


In the Face of Technical Babble

by aprill99



Series: Overheard Conversations [5]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Episode: s03e19 Broken Arrow, F/M, Papa Lance, Tech talk, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 03:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6453955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aprill99/pseuds/aprill99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Quentin Lance has essentially no understanding of technology he doesn't need for his job. That means that when Felicity gets going on a tech babble he misses maybe %90 of the conversation. The rest of Team Arrow doesn't do much better so he can't feel to bad. That said, he understands enough to know that kidnapping Felicity Smoak is a very bad thing to do when two vigilantes are ready to come after you. Especially when one of them has loaned Oliver Queen the keys to their super suite. So basically I fixed an episode of season 3 because how it went bugged me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Face of Technical Babble

Captain Lance figured out within about half a minute of knowing Felicity Smoak that she talked. A lot. And by a lot he meant that it seemed like it might be all the time. He had originally thought that it was just a result of nerves. However, a slightly more extended period of contact had proved that it wasn't. Felicity Smoak talked. It was just a fact of life.

She talked while patching injuries. She talked on a blue tooth when she drove places, and went off on random tangents through the communication links the team used. But what she talked about most was tech.

Half he time Lance had absolutely no idea what she was even saying. When Felicity was on a tech rant it was like someone was talking to him in Greek. He could see her lips moving, and hear that she was making sound, but past that he was lost.

Some of the words he could understand. Things like "firewall" "database" and "hardware" he recognized. By the time sentences like "offsite international router with a six terabyte encryption" started being thrown around Lance simply resigned himself to nodding blandly and sympathetic humming sounds.

Each other member of Team Arrow had their own method of handling the techno babble. Laurel shifted impatiently from foot to foot and avoided eye contact until the rants ended. Diggle crossed his arms, heaved a deep breath and simply watched Felicity speak with the sort of small smile an older brother would wear when their little siblings told them about their day. Roy generally huffed and interrupted with a short "In English Blondie." Ray was normally just as bad as Felicity was.

Oliver's method fell somewhere in the middle of all of these. When they had the time for Felicity to babble he merely stood over her shoulder and let the words run their course. When they were under a time crunch Oliver let her get through everything important before redirecting the word flow. He seemed to be the only one who could really pull it off. He would simply clear his throat once and say "Felicity." Then she would finish giving him the information required.

Listening to Felicity have a tech conversation with Ray Palmer generally just left Lance exchanging glances with the others that clearly broadcast the question Do you know what the hell they're talking about? The answer was generally in the negative.

Roy's knowledge of technology ended at how much it could be resold for after it had been misappropriated from it's original owners. Laurel could figure out what technology she needed for he job as the assistant D.A. and Diggle had a decent understanding of military hardware. From what Lance had seen, Oliver understood technology exactly as far as he needed to to use it.

To be completely fair, that capacity seemed to stretch to an exceptional level. Lance didn't see this actually come in to play until the day Oliver had to use Ray Palmer's suit.

Roy Harper was in jail for being the Arrow and despite efforts on the parts of both Quentin and Laurel there was nothing they could do about it. While Laurel was an assistant D.A, the actual D.A still had the final call, and while Quentin had been promoted he wasn't the chief of police. They were going to have to work out something soon though. Oliver had been unable to go out to do any sort of good and the level of pacing he had done was good enough to ware a hole in the floor.

Felicity had been discovered by the plasma shooting metahuman (don't even try getting Lance to explain that) and Oliver was getting ready to go charging out the door regardless of the cops set to tail him. Lance was ready to move to block him from leaving if he could. More for the sake of the officers who were supposed to follow him than anything else, but Palmer intervened.

Of course, that meant that Oliver had snapped. "When I go out my bow is not the weapon," he said fervently. "I am the weapon. It's my instincts."

"We need to figure out a way to give my tech your instincts," Palmer said.

That was what had led to Palmer calibrated his suit to react to Oliver's brain waves. What had followed had been absolutely fucking bizarre.

Watching anybody fight against absolutely nothing, not even a punching bag or a dummy looked strange. Watching Oliver move through the motions of an actual fight for survival without being in any danger what so ever was just weird. Lance wondered how that thought process would even work when Oliver wasn't even in place to feel the instincts of the fight. If I were a homicidal metahuman with laser eyes being interrupted in the middle f my maniacal plan by a guy in a high tech super suit how would I sneak up on them?

Evidently Oliver's assessment of "from the back" turned out to be correct as he pivoted on the spot, putting all of is weight behind a punch that didn't land. Instead, Palmers fist connected with the head of the villain of the week. The fight progressed in the same manner and Lance was mentally struck by just how dangerous Oliver Queen could be. He was already lethal by himself, handing him a suit like Palmer's made him completely deadly.

Lance had always believed that the law was steady. It had to protected because it was unbiased and unyielding. But Oliver Queen and his team were operating outside of the law, and if they wanted to make an effort to not be stopped then they never would be. They were outside the law, and they were doing the right thing. Lance wasn't sure how he would ever reconcile that.

Ray Palmer had eventually returned with Felicity. Oliver had exchanged a nod with him and then shifted his gaze to Felicity. "Are you okay?" he asked. "You're not hurt?"

Felicity shook her head. "Nope. Not hurt. No more battle scars for me. Not like battle scars are a bad thing. I mean obviously I'm friends with you and Diggle and you both have scars like literally everywhere so if I did have a problem with them you two walking around shirtless would be a big problem which it really isn't so..."

"Felicity," Oliver said calmly, stopping the tirade. "Just..." he stopped to locate the right words. "Just tell me your okay."

She nodded once concisely. "Yes. I'm okay."

Lance saw Oliver's shoulders lower as he relaxed minutely. He pulled the blue tooth and sensors that had connected him to the ATOM suit off his head and placed them on the work counter with the rest of Palmer's technology. "I'll be outside," he murmured before slipping away.

Lance followed at a distance as Oliver and Diggle made their way downstairs and through the front doors. "I have to ask man," Diggle said. "What are you doing? Is this how it's going to be from now on. You'll save her life and then bail to leave her with Palmer every time?"

"It was Palmer's technology," Oliver said stiffly, ignoring the first part of the question. "He made the weapon he saved her. I just punched at empty air." His fist clenched by his side.

"None of that changes the fact that both of you look like your tearing your hearts in to pieces every time you walk out," Diggle argued.

Oliver let out a breath that was equal parts hopelessness and frustration. "Now is not the time to have this conversation Digg," he said harshly. "Roy is probably dead in a prison cell right now for pretending to be me. Thea is almost ready to fall apart and I don't know how to help her, and right now..." he trailed off for a moment. "Fighting Ra's is about as effective as fighting the air."

He took a half step farther away from Diggle and stood stiffly by the side of the building. "If Felicity is happy with Palmer then it is not my place to change that. Palmer isn't going to stop so he'll have to figure all of this out eventually. Until then-" Lance saw Oliver cut himself off and look at Diggle. "I'm never going to be able to leave Felicity in danger. Doing that... it's like being crushed, or drowning. Right now the best I can do is try to manage things."

The words floated in the air for a while and Lance shut down the urge to either pat Queen on the shoulder to show some support or smack him upside the head for sheer idiocy. Diggle simply shook his head. "Managing's not going to get you anywhere Oliver. The way I see it," he shrugged. "You might die soon, or it might not be for a long time. But if something happens, I don't think the last thing you ever tell Felicity should be a lie."

Diggle stood and Lance backed up as the former bodyguard took a step back towards the door. He paused before leaving. "I just think you both deserve better than that."

He stepped inside and passed Lance without showing any sign of worry over the fact that Lance had heard the entire conversation. He simply waited outside the elevator door as the floor numbers ticked down, falling easily back in to the habits of a military man and bodyguard. Oliver slid back through the door and waited there.

Lance noted mentally that his footsteps made no sound against the tile floor, nor did the fabric of his clothes as he moved. He wondered briefly when he had learned that particular skill, and noted with a jolt that Sara had moved the same way after she had returned. It was as though the two of them were somehow unattached to the ground they walked on, like the world had a different grip on them than it did on everyone else. Oliver Queen moved through the world like a solid shadow.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open with a quiet wooshing sound. Felicity's bright voice flew down the hallway in a quick bouncing rhythm. It was full of discussion of sensors and fiber optics and appropriate armor paneling. Something about flexible free movement padding for the inside of the ATOM suit could be understood but most of the conversation was completely lost on Lance.

Captain Lance glanced over at Oliver.

Queen wasn't speaking or moving. He wasn't even smiling. There was just a sort of softening of his features as he watched Felicity come down the hallway towards him.

Then Ray Palmer stepped around the corner and Oliver's face quickly closed down again. Lance could actually watch as the stillness of his body shifted to a colder and more chilling form. He waited just long enough for Felicity to see that he was there, giving Palmer a nod before turning and walking out the door.

Lance watched Felicity's face. It slowly seemed to lose some of the bright enthusiasm for a moment before she turned back to Palmer and fixed her happy expression back in place.

Quentin shook his head and mentally cursed at Oliver Queen. "How much of a brain dead Moron of an idiot can you actually be Queen?," he muttered.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading guys! All of the angst in the latest episodes has made me need Olicity fix-it happiness in drabbles. This seemed like an okay way to go. What did you guys think? Comments/Kudos are always appreciated, and thank you for the amazing support so many of you have given already! oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo


End file.
